28 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

Neither player went to another team because they couldn't since they were under contract with the Eagles. Slay and BG are/were veterans of our culture. Phillips praised our culture upon joining the team...he didn't say that after he was here for a while. Baun resigned here coming off a Super Bowl. Smitty still would have been here under contract through last year if he didn't sign an extension. Overall, we've have had a good reputation about culture so players hear about it and mention it upon signing here...i.e., "1st day on the job excitement". The bad culture I'm talking about wasn't observed until this past season so anything that happened prior to that doesn't really count towards what I'm talking about (talking about 2025 season only and how bad things got internally).

But I agree that the bulk of our problems was the offensive scheme and play calling. I just wonder how all those problems impacted the team/organization as a whole and if there was some internal dysfunction that created one of those "the tension in the air is so thick you can cut it with a knife" type things that outside players would have been much more quick to see and being that they had no real ties, they decided to cut ties real quick.

Those 2 players had no desire to play anymore, period. If they wanted to, Howie would have released the contract or whatever to allow it.

28 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

Smith was plugged in immediately and was our sack leader when he abruptly decided to retire. Alexander would have been given a legit shot but chose not to stay around long enough. But yeah, who knows what role any team dysfunction played in their decision and we'll likely never know. I'm just looking at them as possibly symptomatic of what was happening within the team during the year. As in, if things were going well, offense and defense clicking, vibes good, winning games....Super Bowl repeat a real possibility....would they have stayed?

Maybe Smith was planning on being more of a rotational piece and not be counted on to be such a workhorse. Maybe he thought he'd collect an easy pay check at the end of his career and when he found out he needed to actually work his tail off was like 'peace out'. Who knows ... again, all pure speculation by any of us. The possibilities are endless and don't all necessarily point to culture.

15 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Maybe Smith was planning on being more of a rotational piece and not be counted on to be such a workhorse. Maybe he thought he'd collect an easy pay check at the end of his career and when he found out he needed to actually work his tail off was like 'peace out'. Who knows ... again, all pure speculation by any of us. The possibilities are endless and don't all necessarily point to culture.

I hear ya, all of this is speculation and just chat fodder. Smith and Alexander I just see as possible symptoms when looking at the culture picture as a whole. i.e., they were part of the "smoke" surrounding the smoldering fire that we couldn't see from the outside. This could have been them upon coming into the building...

15 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Maybe Smith was planning on being more of a rotational piece and not be counted on to be such a workhorse. Maybe he thought he'd collect an easy pay check at the end of his career and when he found out he needed to actually work his tail off was like 'peace out'. Who knows ... again, all pure speculation by any of us. The possibilities are endless and don't all necessarily point to culture.

That didn't appear to be the case. He played 35% of the snaps in the 1st 2 games. Then he played over 50% in the next 2 games. In his final game, he played 24.6% compared to Hunt 62%, Ojulari 42%, Uche 39%, and P Johnson 32%. There was some speculation he was upset about a reduced snap count.

Once again, it is well known that Fangio is an "old school" coach that chooses performance over entitlement and that rubs some players the wrong way. There were several dolphins that spoke out celebratory after Fangio left.

If I had to pick my best guess, this would be my speculation why Smith retired suddenly. Alexander, it was reported, felt like Baltimore rushed him back before he was fully healed and he was not happy about it. He wanted to spend time away from football to "heal mentally and physically."

1 hour ago, EaglesAddict said:

Smith was plugged in immediately and was our sack leader when he abruptly decided to retire. Alexander would have been given a legit shot but chose not to stay around long enough. But yeah, who knows what role any team dysfunction played in their decision and we'll likely never know. I'm just looking at them as possibly symptomatic of what was happening within the team during the year. As in, if things were going well, offense and defense clicking, vibes good, winning games....Super Bowl repeat a real possibility....would they have stayed?

Those 2 were on defense, and all the other players talked about great vibes, hanging out after practice, etc. You're reaching here. I already said this yesterday, but Smith was retired and tried playing again and realized his body wasn't cut out for it and retired again. There was no indication he left because of the culture. Alexander was on the injured list with the Ravens as a healthy scratch, they didn't have any use for him. He may have decided he wasn't up for it, Vic too demanding or whatever reason. But all we have are guesses. And team culture on defense was high even last year. The players that matter say so, so I'll believe them over speculation based on nothing. Davis, DeJean, Blankenship, Baun, etc. There are a lot of high character guys there too like Dean, Nolan Smith, BG came back. I don't care if a scrub wasn't cut out for it and a retired guy went back to retirement.

What would alarm me about the culture would be if the defensive players that matter indicated it. And they didn't. In fact, they said the opposite, publicly on record.

The offense was a mess, but even with that the team stayed together. The AJ Brown stuff on other teams could have been way worse, that's something Nick does well is manage personalities and despite the fans and media desperately wanting drama and conflict every year, they manage it and the team sticks together, they stick up for each other.

Last year was mostly about offensive performance and execution and everyone was frustrated by that.

17 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

That didn't appear to be the case. He played 35% of the snaps in the 1st 2 games. Then he played over 50% in the next 2 games. In his final game, he played 24.6% compared to Hunt 62%, Ojulari 42%, Uche 39%, and P Johnson 32%. There was some speculation he was upset about a reduced snap count.

Once again, it is well known that Fangio is an "old school" coach that chooses performance over entitlement and that rubs some players the wrong way. There were several dolphins that spoke out celebratory after Fangio left.

If I had to pick my best guess, this would be my speculation why Smith retired suddenly. Alexander, it was reported, felt like Baltimore rushed him back before he was fully healed and he was not happy about it. He wanted to spend time away from football to "heal mentally and physically."

Like I've said multiple times ... the possibilities are endless.

Maybe he didn't like the food.

3 minutes ago, time2rock said:

Like I've said multiple times ... the possibilities are endless.

Maybe he didn't like the food.

We'll never know since we can't see the report cards anymore.

22 minutes ago, NOTW said:

Those 2 were on defense, and all the other players talked about great vibes, hanging out after practice, etc. You're reaching here. I already said this yesterday, but Smith was retired and tried playing again and realized his body wasn't cut out for it and retired again. There was no indication he left because of the culture. Alexander was on the injured list with the Ravens as a healthy scratch, they didn't have any use for him. He may have decided he wasn't up for it, Vic too demanding or whatever reason. But all we have are guesses. And team culture on defense was high even last year. The players that matter say so, so I'll believe them over speculation based on nothing. Davis, DeJean, Blankenship, Baun, etc. There are a lot of high character guys there too like Dean, Nolan Smith, BG came back. I don't care if a scrub wasn't cut out for it and a retired guy went back to retirement.

What would alarm me about the culture would be if the defensive players that matter indicated it. And they didn't. In fact, they said the opposite, publicly on record.

The offense was a mess, but even with that the team stayed together. The AJ Brown stuff on other teams could have been way worse, that's something Nick does well is manage personalities and despite the fans and media desperately wanting drama and conflict every year, they manage it and the team sticks together, they stick up for each other.

Last year was mostly about offensive performance and execution and everyone was frustrated by that.

Don't think I'm "reaching"...but rather it's an observation that could be indicative of the issues this team experienced last season. I also don't quite buy the fact that they were defensive players so basically they weren't exposed to any dysfunction or whatever you're getting at with that. The defense was on point all season, but that doesn't mean they weren't living in a dysfunctional environment created by the offense. And of course they aren't going to "point fingers" at the offense (i.e., "indicate it", as you stated).

In any case, we'll never know. Just fodder for discussion during this downtime until FA ramps up.

I don't think there is a culture problem more than any other organization. The AJ saga drug on, the offensive performances got worse. The debilitating injuries piled up. A lot of truths were laid bare. I am glad they had the leadership to not allow it to blow up. It became public and it went well beyond what it should have. AJ isn't a malcontent. He wants to contribute and help them win. He goes about expressing his frustration on social media. I don't agree with that approach. His performance in the wc game was atrocious. Then, to run off and not speak? That was some unforgiving, not something a leader/Captain should do.

The fact of the matter is, to a man, the offensive players (including AJ) said the offense wasn't good enough. The entire offensive passing scheme and play design. Execution poor. Thankful for the defensive players and staff. But, Nick is too much of a rah-rah guy for me. He's a good coach. But, he should be able to call plays by now. Howie and Lurie aren't afraid to change. I must admit; to go from the SB to WC 1st rd exit presents as indeed strange days at the Eagles nest.

2 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

Don't think I'm "reaching"...but rather it's an observation that could be indicative of the issues this team experienced last season. I also don't quite buy the fact that they were defensive players so basically they weren't exposed to any dysfunction or whatever you're getting at with that. The defense was on point all season, but that doesn't mean they weren't living in a dysfunctional environment created by the offense. And of course they aren't going to "point fingers" at the offense (i.e., "indicate it", as you stated).

In any case, we'll never know. Just fodder for discussion during this downtime until FA ramps up.

I initially acknowledged it brought up a good point for discussion, but it's pure speculation with little basis. What evidence we do have from the key people on the team opposes that speculation. Including the 2 players who quit playing, we know they praised the culture, they didn't say anything after they quit.

Frankly, some players can't handle accountability, toughness and high expectations. The players in Miami were soft and complained about Fangio. He came here, led the #1 defense and won a championship. So if a retired guy goes back to retired, and a guy the Ravens thought so little of he was a healthy inactive then quit completely...I don’t really care what they think regardless. I put weight into what the players on this roster think, and they all praise the culture.

17 hours ago, NOTW said:

I don't think the team was taking it serious and drawing real inspiration from it

Obviously.

Locker room issues are a thing for the Eagles. AJ, Siri and Hurts are just a bad triangle and Patullo was also bad. But the other primary factor that had at least as much to do is the OLine took a major step backwards and could be headed for a complete rebuild now.